"I'm going to go out a winner if I have to find a high school race to win my last race."
- Johnny Gray
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
2 Timothy 4:6-8 (NIV)
The end of any race is the most critical part of the race. A person could run an excellent race, but if they stumble and fall at the end the race is lost.
When I was in High School I ran the 2-mile race in track. There is one race that will always stand out in my mind, which took place in my Senior year. I usually finished at the back of the pack. My goal for every race was not to be last. On this occasion I determined that I was going to go for broke. When the gun went off I took the lead at a sprint. For two laps I held the lead. I could hear my coach cheering wildly as I passed him. But at lap three I began to fatigue. My legs became heavy and my pace eased up. Soon I was being passed by runner after runner. When I crossed the finish line after lap 8 I was dead last, by a long way. It’s not how you start the race that counts; it’s how you finish the race.
Unfortunately today many Christians are not finishing the race of life well. Too many prominent Christian leaders have stumbled and fallen just as they were approaching the finish line. Often, when the lead runner falls, a number of those following fall as well.
The Apostle Paul set a very different example for us. Paul not only finished well, he finished strong. Paul had many opportunities to drop out of the race. After his conversion experience, he found himself as an outsider. The community of the Pharisees rejected him and even tried to kill him for his new faith. The infant church distrusted him and was afraid to let him in. It would have been very easy for him to give up before he ever got started, but he did not. Barnabus could see the genuineness of Paul’s faith and took the risk to stand up for him. Because of Barnabus Paul was welcomed into the community of believers.
It became clear to Paul that God was calling him to a pioneer ministry among the Gentiles. Along with Barnabus he risked doing what others had not and he started churches among non-Jews. This did not win him any friends, at least not right away. He had to battle for these new churches. Just as Barnabus had stood up for Paul, Paul stood up for the Gentile believers. He confronted the church leaders in Jerusalem with the radical idea that God’s grace is open to everyone. The Apostle Peter came to Paul’s aid and helped to open the door.
You would think that after he had secured the approval of the church leaders in Jerusalem that things would go more smoothly for him. That is not how it worked out. He faced opposition at every turn. In Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth he reluctantly revealed just how hard the race had been for him.
To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that! What anyone else dares to boast about--I am speaking as a fool--I also dare to boast about. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? [2 Corinthians 11:21-29 (NIV)]
I often wonder how Paul kept going. I’m afraid that I would have given up long before the end. What kept Paul going was that he never lost sight of the goal. All the obstacles that threatened to trip him up where only temporary inconveniences. All that matter to Paul was that he finished well. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. [2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV)]
Paul never broke stride clear to the end of his race. Late in his life, while he was in prison in Rome, he wrote an encouraging letter to the church at Philippi. He set an example for them to not give up the race short of the goal.
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. [Philippians 3:10-16 (NIV)]
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. [Philippians 3:10-16 (NIV)]
Finally as the finish line came in view Paul wrote to his son in the faith Timothy. For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. [2 Timothy 4:6-8 (NIV)]
Paul never gave up. He gave his best all the way and finished strong. He set an example for all followers of Jesus Christ.
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